False consciousness

"False consciousness" is the Marxist concept that the proletariat are misguided as to their own desires and wants, and will not properly understand their true beliefs and desires until they are enlightened. More specifically, it is the belief that within the structures of Capitalism, there is a disconnect between the real state of affairs and the way they phenomenally appear. (For instance in the wage contract.)

'Ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker. Consciously, it is true, but with a false consciousness. The real motive forces impelling him remain unknown to him; otherwise it simply would not be an ideological process. Hence he imagines false or seeming motive forces'.

There is no proof that Karl Marx either did or did not use the phrase "false consciousness". It appears to have been used (in print) only by
Friedrich Engels however, see Terry Eagleton, Ideology: An Introduction (London: Verso, 1991), p. 89.

The doctrine of false consciousness has also been used by Marxist feministss in regard to other women.

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